Helen Wagner’s Career as Nancy Hughes
Helen Wagner (September 3, 1918 ” May 1, 2010) was the only woman to play the character “Nancy Hughes” in the long running soap opera “As The World Turns”. She began playing the role in April of 1956, when the show debuted, and continued to perform the role until her death, which occurred only months before the soap opera taped its final episodes in June 2010.
By playing Nancy Hughes for over 50 years, she is mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records as holding the longest run of a character role in television history.Confused? Here ‘s a little help . A little known fact is that Ms. Wagner was the first actor to have a line when the show aired live for the first time in 1956. The line was “Good Morning, Dear”.
She also had the distinction of being on air performing live on the soap opera when Walter Cronkite broke in to announce the shooting of John F. Kennedy on November 22th, 1963. After he made the announcement, Ms. Wagner went back to her role, not knowing what tragedy had occurred until later on.
Helen Wagner was the matriarch of not only “As The World Turns”, but of all soap operas–she is greatly missed.